In the face of piling controversy — and a second lawsuit concerning the welfare of children — Google has taken pains to downplay its relationship to the embattled AI chatbot startup Character.AI. About this time last year, though? Google was crowning Character.AI as Google Play's first-ever "Best with AI" app of the year. "AI made a major splash in 2023 allowing people to harness the technology to build knowledge, improve expression, and much, much more," reads a Google post from 2023 lauding the category's winner. "Enter Character.AI, an innovative new app that brings unique AI-powered characters to you, each with […]